Reported by Coindesk, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published on Thursday the final draft technical standards on prudential matters for firms to comply with under the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation.

The wide-ranging package of bespoke rules for the crypto sector, MiCA was passed last year. The legislation comes with rules for crypto companies and stablecoin issuers.

The EBA's standards set out a criteria for stress testing programmes and spells out the liquidity requirements of reserve assets as well as a recovery plan that issuers need to develop and more.

"Issuers of asset referenced tokens are required to conduct stress testing based on plausible financial stress scenarios, and competent authorities will be able to increase the amount of own funds requirements of an issuer of asset-referenced tokens having regard to the risk outlook and stress testing results," the recently published package read.

The draft technical standards were developed in close cooperation with bloc of 27 nations other bodies the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Central Bank (ECB).

Reported by Cointelegraph, Michael Egorov, founder of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Curve Finance, claims to have repaid 93% of $10 million in bad debt from the protocol's soft liquidation triggered earlier in the day.

"Size of my positions was too large for markets to handle and caused 10M of bad debt," said Egorov. "I have already repaid 93%, and I intend to repay the rest very shortly."

On June 13, Curve Finance's soft liquidation mechanism successfully managed a real-world test during a recent hacking attempt, but its native CRV token price plunged by over 28% amid the chaos. According to blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, Egorov himself faced $140 million in liquidations due to "borrowing $95.7M in stablecoins (mostly crvUSD) against $141M in CRV across five accounts on five protocols."

During the peak of the hack, Egorov faced paying $60 million in annualized fees to maintain his borrowings. Arkham explained:

"This is because there is almost no remaining crvUSD available to borrow against CRV on Llamalend. Three of Egorov's accounts already make up over 90% of the borrowed crvUSD on the protocol. If the price of CRV drops by ~10%, these positions may begin to be liquidated."

Egorov has since proposed burning 10% of the outstanding CRV tokens, worth $37 million at the time of publication, to stabilize the token's price to pre-incident levels. "As a reward, Active voters will earn a 3-month APY booster on all platform deposits," the blockchain executive commented.

Reported by Cointelegraph, BNB Chain announced a collaboration with Binance’s venture arm to launch an incubation alliance to support early Web3 projects.

On June 13, the blockchain network unveiled a new program created with Binance Labs to help emerging blockchain projects. BNB Chain said that its new BNB Incubation Alliance (BIA) would allow projects to enter the network’s 10-week accelerator for builders, founders and developers.

In addition, incubation alliance participants can also receive grants from BNB Chain and investment from Binance Labs. They can also access BNB Chain’s launch-as-a-service program, which includes $300,000 in free services covering various project aspects like security and infrastructure.

According to BNB Chain, BIA participants will be chosen through global events. The blockchain network said it would collaborate with venture capitalists, incubators and developer communities to host events worldwide.

Through these events, the blockchain network will identify projects to incubate. BNB Chain highlighted that the events will focus on “early-stage blockchain ventures in the incubation stage, pre or post-product launch.”

A panel and representatives from the organization’s partners and co-organizers will judge the program’s winners and present awards.

The BNB Chain Core Development Team said the alliance will equip emerging talent with the network, knowledge and tools they need to succeed. Meanwhile, Binance Labs head Yi He said the incubation alliance reaffirms the company’s commitment to supporting blockchain talent.

The first iteration of the BIA will be held at the Ethereum Community Conference event to be held in Brussels, Belgium.

Reported by Cointelegraph, Aethir, a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) provider, has announced the launch of its decentralized cloud compute network on Ethereum mainnet.

Enterprises, data centers, other cloud providers and cryptocurrency mining operators can contribute idle GPU resources to Aethir’s GPU-as-a-service solutions network.

Co-founder Mark Rydon emphasized the importance of the mainnet launch, saying:

“By providing a scalable framework for redistributing idle compute resources, we can empower more innovation in the rapidly evolving domains of AI, ML and cloud gaming. On mainnet, high-quality enterprises can contribute to the Aethir network and increase access to the current supply of GPUs.”

Enterprises and developers will be able to rent compute resources from the Aethir network of providers to help train artificial intelligence (AI) models or render digital content at scale.

Through the native ATH token, Aethir uses Ethereum for its staking capability and Arbitrum (ARB) for fast payments to compute providers and community rewards for checker nodes to enforce quality assurance.

Aethir’s ATH also facilitates network governance, staking processes and the security of DePIN’s ecosystem.

Reported by The Block, MetaMask developer Consensys has launched pooled staking for its popular web3 wallet, enabling users to stake any amount of ether to contribute to Ethereum network security and earn validator rewards.

Before the launch, only users with at least 32 ETH (around $113,000), the minimum required by the Ethereum protocol, could stake natively in validators operated by the firm.

MetaMask users can unstake their ether at any time, but the process is subject to waiting times that may vary depending on the current Ethereum validator exit queue.

MetaMask’s pooled staking service is being rolled out in phases, available to a portion of eligible users from today and more over the coming days, using the open modular architecture of Ethereum liquid staking protocol StakeWise to power its smart contracts.

“With Pooled Staking, MetaMask users now have an easy way to stake ETH in enterprise-grade validators while maintaining full control of their ETH, earning rewards and making Ethereum more secure,” Consensys Senior Product Manager Matthieu Saint Olive said in a statement. “We’re excited to bring our staking solution to many more MetaMask users.”

The initial launch will not be available to MetaMask users in the U.S. or UK amid regulatory uncertainty. However, Consensys said it does plan to eventually bring pooled staking to these markets as well.

Consensys claims MetaMask pooled staking is underpinned by over 33,000 hosted Ethereum validators in a multi-cloud, multi-region and multi-client infrastructure, with more than 1 million ETH staked, zero slashed (penalized) validators and more than a 99.9% validator participation rate.

Last month, MetaMask announced its intention to roll out support for Bitcoin for the first time, following similar moves from other web3 wallet providers like Phantom. In April, MetaMask integrated with Daylight to let users check their eligibility for airdrops and potential NFT claims.

BloFin Exchange, a leading cryptocurrency trading platform renowned for its robust security measures and user-centric innovations, is excited to announce its integration with the Chainalysis blockchain data platform. This development is pivotal in enhancing the exchange's compliance capabilities and safeguarding the assets of its global user base. Currently, BloFin offers up to 320 contract trading pairs and 100 spot trading services, achieving a hundredfold growth compared to 2023.

As part of its commitment to providing a safe and compliant trading environment, BloFin is implementing the Chainalysis crypto risk solution, enabling BloFin to monitor cryptocurrency transactions in real time, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and combating financial crime.

“We are thrilled about our collaboration with Chainalysis, which significantly enhances our platform's security and compliance. In the crypto field, blockchain analytics is one of the most effective tools to prevent money laundering, and Chainalysis’ blockchain data platform is trusted by governments across the globe. At BloFin, we have always prioritized the security of our users' assets. Our decision to collaborate with Chainalysis early in our development demonstrates our commitment to anti-money laundering. Integrating the Chainalysis crypto risk solution reinforces our commitment to these priorities. We are confident this collaboration will strengthen our ability to protect our community and set new standards for safety and trust in the cryptocurrency space.” said Matt, BloFin CEO.

BloFin has consistently been at the forefront of the crypto market due to its pioneering approach to product features and user experience. With a user-friendly interface and a suite of innovative trading tools, BloFin caters to the needs of both novice and experienced traders. Utilizing Chainalysis crypto risk solution further underscores BloFin’s dedication to regulatory compliance and operational transparency.

This integration aligns with BloFin's strategic vision to utilize cutting-edge technologies that enhance user trust and security. By leveraging Chainalysis' comprehensive blockchain analysis tools, BloFin can more efficiently identify potentially risky transactions, thereby protecting its community and contributing to the overall safety of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

For more information about BloFin Exchange and its services, please visit https://blofin.com/.

About BloFin Exchange:

BloFin is a global cryptocurrency exchange that offers a secure platform for trading various digital assets. The fastest-growing crypto exchange offers premium perpetual and futures trading services with over 320 USDT-M trading pairs, covering Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and various altcoins, along with up to 150X leverage. Seamlessly transition between our mobile app and web platform for uninterrupted trading, even on the go.

BloFin Official Website: https://www.blofin.com

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BloFin Twitter: https://x.com/Blofin_Official

About Chainalysis:

Chainalysis is a blockchain data platform. We provide data, software, services, and research to government agencies, exchanges, financial institutions, and insurance and cybersecurity companies in over 70 countries. Our data powers investigation, compliance, and market intelligence software that has been used to solve some of the world’s most high-profile criminal cases and grow consumer access to cryptocurrency safely. Backed by Accel, Addition, Benchmark, Coatue, GIC, Paradigm, Ribbit, and other leading firms in venture capital, Chainalysis builds trust in blockchains to promote more financial freedom with less risk. For more information, visit www.chainalysis.com.

Reported by The Defiant, The ZKsync Association is set to distribute 3.675 billion ZK tokens to its community members beginning next week.

Announced on Tuesday, the airdrop, which makes up 17.5% of the total ZK token supply of 21 billion tokens, will run until Jan. 3, 2025. Contributors can claim their tokens starting June 24.

Once claimed, ZK tokens can be used for governance within the ZKsync protocol, enabling token holders to vote on protocol upgrades and pay network fees.

ZKsync is the third-largest zero-knowledge proof-based Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution, with over $750 million of assets in the network, according to L2Beat.

According to a blog post by ZKsync, 49.1% of the entire token supply will be allocated to various ecosystem initiatives. Additionally, 17.2% of the tokens are reserved for investors, and 16.1% will go to Matter Labs, the company developing ZKsync. These team tokens will be locked for one year and will gradually unlock from June 2025 to June 2028.

"Awarding more tokens in the airdrop than to the Matter Labs team and investors is more than a symbolic decision for the community,” the press release stated. “When the ZKsync governance system launches in the coming weeks, the community will have the largest supply of liquid tokens to direct protocol governance upgrades.”

A total of 695,232 wallets are eligible for the airdrop, based on activities recorded on ZKsync Era and ZKsync Lite as of March 24, 2024. The distribution will be divided between users (89%) and contributors (11%).

ZKsync has capped the maximum allocation to any single address at 100,000 tokens.

ZKsync employs a points system to determine token distribution. Points were awarded for activities like interacting with smart contracts, providing liquidity to DeFi protocols, and trading ERC-20 tokens.

Activities on ZKsync Lite, such as donating to Gitcoin rounds, also earned points. Wallets with fewer than 450 ZK tokens will have their allocations recycled back into the pool to ensure a minimum of 917 ZK per wallet.

Reported by Cointelegraph, after months of heated debate, decentralized exchange SushiSwap has introduced a new business model to its ecosystem. Under the name of Sushi Labs, the new era integrates the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) with a “council structure.”

On June 11, the protocol introduced Sushi Labs — an autonomous administrative, technical and operational company that will manage the Sushi ecosystem. First proposed in March, the revamp sought to respond “to market demands and user requirements,” including the protocol’s slower response to market changes due to “cumbersome governance.”

The new Labs model will operate under a council structure similar to that of the derivatives protocol Synthetix, which is formed by four councils: the Sushi High Kitchen, the Treasury Council, the Grants Council, and the Ambassador Council. High Kitchen — comprising six to eight members — is the central governing body for the protocol, which will oversee a multisig setup for transactions.

“Many attribute Sushi’s stagnated growth and AMM liquidity issues to LPs migrating to other DEXs and seeking better yield. However, with our newly established organizational structure, sufficient budget, and leveraging successful products like Route Processor, we have the tools to enhance liquidity on the Sushi DEX,” Jared Grey, now Sushi Labs’ managing director, wrote in a memo to the Sushi community.

Sushi Labs will take over the DAO’s multimillion-dollar budget, which comprises 25 million SushiSwap tokens. Tokenholders will still have the power to decide on treasury allocations but will not be involved in operational details.

Another change comes with a multitoken product suite. According to Sushi, it will help distribute product costs while granting more reward opportunities for tokenholders. “A multi-token ecosystem reduces the risk of Sushi token inflation and mitigates the financial strain of funding DAO initiatives when products are not profitable,” reads the statement.

In recent months, the new model has sparked debate and criticism for its centralized nature. Community members had previously accused the protocol of a hostile takeover with the proposal. “It appears that Sushi DAO is at the end of its journey,” said a Sushi’s member on its governance forum.

SushiSwap has been facing financial challenges since 2022, when Grey warned about a $30 million loss in liquidity provider incentives, prompting a revision in its tokenomics. In December 2022, the decentralized exchange also revealed that it had only 1.5 years of operational runway, leading to a renewed focus on diversifying its treasury and improving liquidity management.

Sushi Labs clarified that its community will continue to be “integral to the new business model.” According to a spokesperson, the new structure will allow the community to actively participate in governance through its councils:

These councils ensure that community members can effectively manage resources and make strategic decisions. The DAO will continue to oversee governance, regulate the Treasury, and participate in council elections via SushiPowah.

Sushi said the election process will determine community participation in council discussions. “Community members will have the opportunity to vote for representatives who will then participate in council discussions and decision-making processes.” The protocol believes its new model gives the community a more structured and efficient governance framework.

Reported by Cointelegraph, Charles Hoskinson, creator of the open-sourced blockchain platform Cardano, anticipates a major event in June in the Cardano ecosystem.

On June 9, Hoskinson announced on X that Cardano’s upcoming Chang fork is approaching quickly and that Cardano Node will likely reach version 9.0 this month.

That means the Cardano blockchain is ready for the hard fork and is now waiting for 70% of stake pool operators (SPO) to install the new node.

“Then, a hard fork can occur, pushing Cardano into the Age of Voltaire,” Hoskinson noted, referring to the latest phase in Cardano’s development stages.

Development phases of Cardano, also known as “eras,” are named after notable figures in poetry and computer science, including Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Joseph Goguen, Matsuo Bashō and Voltaire.

The first three stages implemented a basic blockchain, decentralization and smart contracts. The Basho era focuses on scaling the blockchain. Voltaire, the final era, adds governance, voting and treasury management functionality to the Cardano blockchain.

Chang will be the first hard fork of Cardano’s roadmap’s Voltaire era. This era will introduce community-run governance by enabling on-chain community consensus and allowing Cardano holders to use their tokens to vote on proposals.

According to the Cardano co-founder, Chang is the “most significant milestone in the history of Cardano,” which will help the blockchain ecosystem to enable a “decentralized civilization spanning the entire world with millions of residents.”

Reported by The Block, the Solana Foundation announced it removed a group of validator operators from its delegation program due to their involvement in sandwich attacks on Solana users.

“Decisions in this matter are final. Enforcement actions are ongoing as we detect operators participating in mempools which allow sandwich attacks,” wrote Solana Validator Relations Lead Tim Garcia on the Solana Foundation’s Discord server.

The move will ensure that the foundation does not delegate to validators who carry out malicious sandwich attacks on retail users, explained Mert Mumtaz, co-founder of Solana RPC provider Helius.

Sandwich attacks are against the rules laid out by the Solana Foundation in a May 7 Discord post from Garcia.

A sandwich attack is a type of front-running exploit where an attacker places two transactions around a victim’s transaction to manipulate the price and profit from the difference.

“Operators engaging in malicious activities such as participating in a private mempool to sandwich attack transactions or otherwise harming Solana users will not be tolerated by the delegation program. Anyone found engaging in such activity will be rejected from the program and any stake from the Foundation will be immediately and permanently removed.”

Garcia specifically referenced this when making the announcement of the operators being removed.

The Solana Foundation Delegation Program was put in place to help validators operate by delegating SOL tokens to them, removing the need to hold a substantial amount of tokens. Validators are selected based on performance.

Reported by The Block, OP Labs has released fault proofs on the Layer 2 blockchain OP Mainnet — advancing the project to a stage 1 rollup in terms of decentralization.

The fault proof system allows for ether and ERC-20 token withdrawals from OP Mainnet without the need for trusted third parties — enabling users to challenge and remove invalid withdrawals. Fault proofs serve as a mechanism for Ethereum Layer 2 networks, allowing users to contest potentially fraudulent or incorrect transactions.

Before approval through Optimism’s governance structures, the implementation of fault proofs was supported by multiple core development teams in the Optimism ecosystem (or Superchain), including OP Labs, Base, and Sunnyside Labs — indicating a collaborative effort.

Previously, OP Mainnet did not have fault proofs — requiring users to trust operators to submit accurate state roots onto the mainnet.

OP Mainnet and other Optimism ecosystem chains use optimistic rollups as a scaling solution, aggregating Ethereum transactions off-chain for cheaper processing.

While open participation in the fault-proof system is live, the Optimism Security Council can still intervene and revert the system to a permissioned state in case of system failures as part of a safe and responsible rollout. Additional safeguards allow the Security Council to effectively address system bugs, including the ability to reset withdrawals if necessary.

OP Mainnet has a roadmap towards a fully permissionless and decentralized “stage 2,” managed solely via smart contracts.

Most optimistic rollup blockchains have yet to decentralize their networks by incorporating fault proofs and maintaining decentralized contract upgrades. However, Optimism’s closest competitor, Arbitrum, also offers fault proofs.

Reported by Coindesk, trading platform Robinhood (HOOD) has agreed to acquire crypto exchange Bitstamp as it looks to expand its crypto presence globally and attract institutional clients through new product offerings, the company announced Tuesday.

The $200 million all-cash deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025, according to the press release. Barclays Capital and Galaxy Digital advised Robinhood and Bitstamp on the sale, the firms said.

“The acquisition of Bitstamp is a major step in growing our crypto business," said Johann Kerbrat, general manager of Robinhood Crypto "Bitstamp’s highly trusted and long standing global exchange has shown resilience through market cycles … Through this strategic combination, we are better positioned to expand our footprint outside of the U.S. and welcome institutional customers to Robinhood.”

Bitstamp is a U.K.-based crypto exchange that was founded in 2011 and quickly became one of the largest crypto exchanges in Europe. It currently offers spot trading of over 85 cryptocurrencies as well as other crypto products including institutional lending and staking, among others. It is one of the most regulated on the market, holding more than 50 licenses and registrations globally, according to the release. It also undergoes regular audits by a global Big Four accounting firm.

Robinhood started offering crypto trading to clients in the European Union in December.

“Bringing Bitstamp's platform and expertise into Robinhood’s ecosystem will give users an enhanced trading experience with a continuing commitment to compliance, security, and customer-centricity,” said JB Graftieaux, CEO of Bitstamp, who along with the rest of the leadership team will remain in place following the sale.

The deal could ramp up the competition in the crypto exchange market as Robinhood's international expansion may take more market share from the likes of Coinbase (COIN), which is also pushing to grow outside of North America.

Reported by Cointelegraph, asset manager Franklin Templeton is exploring a new crypto fund for institutional investors, expanding its offerings beyond Bitcoin and Ether.

According to a June 6 report from The Information, the mutual fund is considering a private fund to expose institutional investors to altcoins. The fund would also offer staking rewards, the report says, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The report does not mention which altcoins would compose the fund’s basket, but the asset manager has recently praised the Solana network’s growth in 2024. According to analytics firm Messari, in the first quarter of 2024, Solana’s spot decentralized exchange volume increased by 319% to $1.5 billion from the previous quarter.

Franklin Templeton manages approximately $1.64 trillion in assets as of March 2024. This figure places the asset manager among the largest investment management firms globally.

The company is actively involved in the crypto space with several funds. One of its most popular projects is its spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), launched in January.

Franklin is also one of the proponents of a spot Ether ETF, recently approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The ETF is currently waiting for the agency’s clearance to launch.

“We are excited about ETH and its ecosystem. Despite the midlife crisis it’s recently experienced, we see a bright future with many strong tailwinds to push the Ethereum ecosystem forward,” the company previously said in a post on X.

Reported by The Block, M^0 (pronounced "M Zero"), a decentralized stablecoin minting protocol, has raised $35 million in a Series A funding round led by Bain Capital Crypto.

Other investors in the round included Galaxy Ventures, Wintermute Ventures, GSR, Caladan and SCB 10X, M^0 said Wednesday. The project began raising for the round in late January and closed it in early May, Luca Prosperi, president of the M^0 Foundation Council, told The Block.

The round was structured as equity plus tokens, with M^0 issuing its two "governance tokens" — POWER and ZERO — to investors, subject to a lock-in period, Prosperi said. He added that this lock-in period is in line with "prudent business and regulatory practices." He declined to comment on the valuation.

M^0's Series A round comes over a year after it raised $22.5 million in a seed funding round led by Pantera Capital in April 2023. The Series A round brings M^0's total funding to $57.5 million. Prosperi noted that the demand for the Series A round was 2.5 times the amount raised.

M^0 is a stablecoin minting protocol based on Ethereum where approved entities can create a stablecoin called M, which is "overcollateralized by U.S. Treasuries only." To mint M, entities need permission from the protocol's governance. Once approved, they provide their own standardized "high-quality" collateral, which independent validators check to ensure it meets the standards.

The M^0 protocol has been deployed on the Ethereum mainnet and will go live in the coming weeks, Prosperi said. The first minter and validator have also been approved, with details to be disclosed later.

"Any entity can ask to be permissioned and become a minter, but needs to be approved by governance," Prosperi said, adding that entities must comply with M^0's "adopted guidances," which will be released soon.

Prosperi noted that other stablecoin issuers, such as Agora and Mountain, could also join the protocol and mint M according to M^0 standards. "M^0 is actually a network that can connect all those compatible issuers," he said.

As for the M stablecoin's reserves, they must be held in bankruptcy-remote vehicles managed by special purpose vehicle operators that are separate from minters, Prosperi said. These reserves will be validated and published daily by approved validators in the M^0 system, he added.

While the M^0 protocol will initially launch on Ethereum, Prosperi said that the M stablecoin could eventually be made available on other Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks. The M^0 team is currently working on its multichain strategy. The team is led by former MakerDAO and Circle employees.

There are currently more than 50 people working for M^0, and Prosperi is looking to expand the team across functions, including engineering, legal, business development and operations.

As part of the Series A round, Bain Capital Crypto has taken a board seat at M^0, alongside Pantera Capital, Road Capital and AirTree, Prosperi said.

Reported by Cointelegraph, Paxos International is issuing an interest-bearing stablecoin called the Lift Dollar (USDL). The USDL will be regulated in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and pay overnight yield on the interest Paxos International earns on the reserves backing it.

The USDL will be backed 1:1 by liquid U.S. government securities and cash equivalent reserve assets held in accordance with the requirements of the ADGM’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority. Rather than earning interest on those reserves, Paxos International will charge an issuer fee for the token.

Paxos announced separately that the USDL will be available in Argentina through distributors Ripio, Buenbit, Manteca and Plus Crypto.

An Ethereum smart contract will use a mechanism called rebasing to distribute yield on the USDL automatically based on market conditions. According to Bloomberg, the yield will amount to about 5%. Paxos International said in a statement that the USDL is the first interest-bearing, regulated stablecoin. In general, stablecoin holders can also earn interest through staking, restaking and yield farming.

USDL will not be available to residents of the United States, the United Arab Emirates outside the ADGM, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan or Singapore. Paxos International explained:

“The digital assets referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended and may not be offered or sold in the US, except pursuant to an applicable exemption from registration.”

Reported by The Block, Avail, a modular blockchain project that spun out of Polygon last year, has raised $43 million in a Series A funding round ahead of its mainnet launch.

Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, Dragonfly and Cyber Fund co-led the round, Avail said Tuesday. Other investors included SevenX Ventures, Figment Capital, Nomad Capital, Chapter One, Foresight Ventures, Mirana Ventures, KR1, Alliance and Hashkey Capital. Many investors, including Founders Fund and Dragonfly, are repeat backers of Avail, increasing their investments in the project.

Avail's Series A funding round comes just three months after it raised $27 million in seed funding in February. At that time, Avail was raising another round of funding. The latest round brings Avail's total funding to $75 million, including a $5 million pre-seed round, co-founder Anurag Arjun told The Block in an interview.

Arjun said the Series A round was structured using a combination of SAFE (simple agreement for future equity) and SAFT (simple agreement for future tokens) and officially closed last week. He declined to comment on the valuation; Avail's fully diluted valuation was several hundred million dollars when it raised a seed round in February.

Reported by The Block, blockchain developer StarkWare has announced plans to build a Bitcoin scaling solution in a significant expansion pivot.

StarkWare, which was valued at $8 billion in its last investment round, is the core contributor to Ethereum Layer 2 Starknet. With the new Bitcoin OP_CAT proposal currently being debated in the community, the firm says it's the right time to bring its zero-knowledge scaling technology to Bitcoin.

“Starknet will become the first network to settle simultaneously on Bitcoin and Ethereum, and scale Bitcoin to many thousands of transactions per second. This will happen within six months after the potential Bitcoin upgrade, OP_CAT,” StarkWare CEO and co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson said in a statement shared with The Block.

No extra chain is being created — the plan uses the same Starknet network with the same governance and tokenomics, supporting Bitcoin scaling without requiring a fork, the team clarified. Every dApp could choose where it wants to settle — either or both, Ben-Sasson told The Block.

“StarkWare is often mistaken for being an Ethereum maxi, though actually we are scaling maxis,” Ben-Sasson added. “We’re mass-use maxis. We’re STARK maxis, which means we believe our technology is best suited to scale all blockchains safely and efficiently. At StarkWare, we now have the expertise, experience and team to simultaneously scale both Ethereum and Bitcoin.”

StarkWare also announced the introduction of a $1 million application-based fund for Bitcoin researchers interested in contributing to its plans. Applications will open “within weeks,” Ben-Sasson said, with funds “earmarked for new discoveries which demonstrate risks associated with OP_CAT, or open source and useful proofs of concept.”

Reported by The Defiant, pensioners in Wisconsin are now exposed to Bitcoin, after the state’s pension fund allocated roughly 0.1% of its $156 billion portfolio to spot Bitcoin ETFs.

The State of Wisconsin Investment Board invested roughly $160 million in Blackrock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust and Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, according to a Form 13-F filing to the SEC.

Having a fund of its size and solvency allocate even a small percentage of its assets under management to Bitcoin signals the asset is maturing and seen as a legitimate investment.

Wisconsin’s State Pension Fund is one of the most financially sound funds in the U.S. According to the State of Pensions 2023 report conducted by pension analyst firm Equable, Wisconsin ranks 5 in funded ratio, at 100.2%. The figure leaves Wisconsin comfortably ahead of the nation-wide average at 78%, signaling significant solvency among similar funds of its kind.

It’s considered a “great success” by the Wisconsin Retired Educators Association, ranking 25 largest in the world, and ninth in the country.

“This is just an entry point and I think they’re [the fund] testing the public’s reaction,” said Marquette University Associate Professor of Emeritus Finance David Krause in a May 31 PBS interview. “It’s a trial run that’s not really going to impact the portfolio substantially, but rather add diversification until it reaches a 1 or even 2% allocation.”

Reported by Cointelegraph, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has announced amendments to its cryptocurrency token regime to enhance and advance the regulatory framework for tokens within its special economic zone.

The DFSA is an independent regulator in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which oversees entities registered in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), one of the country’s special economic zones.

On June 3, the DFSA said it revised its crypto token regime to reflect changes stemming from its Consultation Paper 153, published in January 2024. The amendments addressed several vital areas, including funds investing in crypto tokens and the recognition process for crypto tokens.

With regard to funds, the amendment affected the ability to offer units of external and foreign funds investing in recognized crypto tokens. Previously, the DFSA had restricted fund activities involving crypto tokens.

In its recent consultation paper, the regulator said that fund and asset managers described the regime as too strict. The DFSA wrote:

“They expressed the view that the current regulatory approach was too stringent, especially the limitations on External Funds and Foreign Funds investing in Crypto Tokens and, for some, the restriction on investing in Recognised Crypto Tokens only.”

The changes also affected the ability of domestic qualified investor funds to invest in unrecognized tokens.

While the regulator believes that the recognition process is important, it also considered the viability of allowing domestic funds to make limited investments in unrecognized crypto as long as the exposure did not exceed 10% of the fund’s gross asset value (GAV).

Before the amendments, the application fee for token recognition was $10,000 per token. The DFSA noted that many considered this fee excessively high, particularly for firms seeking recognition for multiple tokens. Additionally, some perceived the process as an “unnecessary burden.”

Based on the feedback, the regulator reduced the fees to $5,000 and introduced additional recognition criteria for stablecoins — crypto tokens pegged to fiat currencies. In its consultation paper, the DFSA emphasized that these changes do not indicate a more lenient stance.

Reported by Cointelegraph, Binance will be toeing the line when Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) rules of stablecoins (asset-referenced tokens) come into effect at the end of the month. The cryptocurrency exchange has alerted users in the European Economic Area to changes they can expect to their service.

MiCA creates uniform rules for crypto asset issuers that have not already been regulated in the European Union. In response, Binance is dividing stablecoins into “regulated” and unauthorized” coins according to their compliance with the new rules.

The exchange “aims to fulfill MiCA objectives smoothly by transitioning users from Unauthorized Stablecoins to Regulated Stablecoins over time, as more Regulated Stablecoins become available in the market.”

No rulings have been made yet on which stablecoins are or are not compliant with MiCA. Only a few stablecoins would meet MiCA requirements at present, Binance said.

Binance will principally rely on a “sell-only” strategy to comply with MiCA requirements. The strategy will especially apply to the Binance Convert function: “Convert functions for Unauthorized Stablecoins will be available in a ‘sell-only’ mode.”

MiCA was passed into law in May 2023. Binance may not be the first exchange to take action ahead of its implementation. In March, OKX delisted Tether in Europe without mentioning MiCA. In September, Binance denied reports based on a quote from an interview with Binance France legal head Marina Parthuisot that it intended to delist all stablecoins in Europe.

Expert opinion has been divided on the effect MiCA will have on the European crypto market, but many have spoken favorably of the law, with apprehension centered around only stablecoins.